syncopated.

Laser

Laser

firstly, congratulations to our new sportsboy of the year 2005, teo wee chin, and his partner, no less undeserving of praise, terence koh, for winning the youth world championships in busan. kudos also to the rest of the team, melcolm, peiquan, dawn, siobham, maxi, victoria. so proud of them! to think that once we were all together, bobbing around in bathtubs with zero wind conditions and lousy race committees. good luck also to the optimist team in switzerland for their world championships.


i sailed the laser today. full rig.

what a quick transition it has been from byte to laser. just after noon my dad and i went down to nsc to settle all the little things. they were:

1. first, decide whether to go into the radial or the full rig
   
2. find my dad's boat, which uncle george of noss had borrowed
• make sure everything is accounted for (sails, foils, ropes etc.)
  
• see what condition it is in
  
3. visit tim ross
   • to see if there are any new/used boats available
   • " " sails
   • get prices

quite a list, as i'm sure you can see.

i was keen on plunging straight into the full rig. i thought that a) it would be a faster transition to go straight into it b) there was little competition in the radial (it's meant for the girls...)

well, we found the boat all right. it's a 'classic', which basically means that it is a youthful 11-odd years old. it was dirty, but was still in good condition. we found the spars with some difficulty, had to mess around in their sheds to find the training and racing sails, and eventually found that we had lost a kicker, crew tie, and had a few screws to replace here and there. not too bad.

so after a hurried maintenance session, i set about to rig up the boat, and then asked to sail with the national team. it was evidently an enriching experience.

there was seng leong, cai weiguo (who i first sailed with in the opti), marc, zhen hao, shaun, shane, and some others.

i won the first race. heh.

but it wasn't fair la. there was hardly wind, and with a 20kg advantage... still, cool.

i learnt a lot. i think i can sail it reasonably now. but what set me thinking was what seng leong and cai told me. they said that i should really sail the radial first before the full rig, because, in cai's own words, "are you going to learn anything in the full rig? when the wind is 12 knots, you just get blown away... you should sail radial until you're about 18, then switch when you're 78+/-." seng leong said, "ya, so when 4 knots that time you sail faster than everyone, but it's not because of skill, it's just your weight. don't kid yourself, sail the boat for your weight. the change between radial and full rig is a very simple one, so don't worry."

cai actually asked me if i was thinking of sailing full time... do they really rate me so highly...?

lol. at this moment, the three of us and manyi were flapping sails waiting for the start. i asked cai who i would be sailing against. he pointed at her and said, "you're looking at the competition." hahaha. of course, there is also victoria.

ah well. i guess i have decided to sail radial... even thought it is a girls class. the truth is, i was struggling with the full rig when the 10 knot storm gust hit... though i didn't capsize :p

i'm hopeful. hopeful i won't be making another wrong turn.

Strummed at 9:00 PM (x)